Reports | Angelo Mathews willing to return to the Sri Lanka squad

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, Angelo Mathews might make a return to the Sri Lanka fold and has mailed regarding his intentions to the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The board will take the final decision regarding this issue on Tuesday. 

Mathews has been in conflict with the SLC for a few months. Earlier this year, the Sri Lanka all-rounder made himself unavailable for the selection saying that the treatment he and some other seniors had received during a month-long contract standoff was not right.

Mathews was to take a pay cut in the range of USD 50,000 under the central contract offered by the board. The conflict between the board and the players also resulted in the omission of Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Mathews from the limited-overs squad. Dinesh Chandimal has now returned to the limited-overs side and played the recent T20I series against Oman.

Mathews expressed his discontent even after the contract standoff was resolved and had ruled himself out of selection. There were also speculations that he might retire from international cricket. But now the all-rounder wants to play for the national team once again. If he returns to the squad, the all-rounder can make up for the lack of experience in the squad with bans handed to Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, and Kusal Mendis for biosecure bubble breach. Also, if Mathews returns to the side his first series after the return to international cricket will probably be the test series against West Indies in November, and after that, the Sri Lanka Premier League is scheduled in December.